Design dispatches

The final frontier ...

First-class travellers have all the luck when it comes to design exposure. First, smart hotels started chucking out the chintz the world over (it's taken a while). Next, first-class flyers on Singapore Airlines got to snuggle up in bespoke Givenchy cashmere sleeper suits. But Virgin has outdone them all - its new Upper Class lounge at Heathrow is like a trawl through current trends in interiors. The huge space cost £11m to refurbish, and architects Softroom have pulled no punches: from hand-crafted Cole & Son wallpaper to Eames loungers and Verner Panton Globe lights, it's all there for the delectation of the filthy rich swanning through Terminal 3 on a Virgin ticket. Those experiencing a delay can enjoy a turn in the hot tub or under showerheads the size of your flat, though design diehards will just want to luxuriate in the stunning spaces. Try to get smuggled through in a Louis Vuitton trunk.

Money on the table

Zaha Hadid, the Iraqi-born, London-based architect famed for her swooping and soaring design style, is about to find her value on the auction market. The prototype of the Aqua table (right) she designed for Established & Sons, the new furniture company that aims to match British talent and manufacturing, is in a sale of important modern design at Phillips de Pury, New York, on December 8 (phillipsdepury.com). While not the first contemporary London designer to hit the New York market (Ron Arad is much loved by US collectors), Hadid must be the first to have a reserve price of $250,000 on her work. The table, a curvaceous design in laminated polyurethane resin and silicone that retails at £45,000 in its production version, is as confident and expansive as its designer. And the price? We'll find out next week if she's worth it.

Times are a-changing

I've never come to terms with wall clocks in the home. They're OK for libraries and cafes, but some people still insist on having one in the kitchen. Don't you own a watch or a mobile phone? Do you imagine time will pass you by if you don't monitor it carefully during breakfast? But for those with one eye on the clock, there is salvation. And, surprisingly, it comes from Alessi, the Italian company that still thinks it's 1986, but does clocks rather well. Having earlier this year updated longstanding designs by stars such as Castiglione and Michael Graves, the king of the postmodern kitchen implement, the firm has now got to work on Aldo Rossi's classic from 1993 (£120). With its in-your-face, highly polished, stainless-steel surround, it's a bit last century. But in a good way. Alessi, 22 Brook Street, London W1, 020-7518 9090 (alessi.com).

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